Thomas Jefferson

By reason of his ability as a thinker and speaker, Thomas Jefferson quickly gained a place of leadership, first in Virginia, then in the Colonies, where he was constantly employed in fighting oppressive British regulations and interference in the affairs of his country. Staunch in his defense of the rights of the people, he caused Virginia to pass many laws of a revolutionary character, among which was the abrogation of the rights of nobility, entailed estates, and the absolute right of religious liberty. Declaration of Independence. - He was a member of that famous group which, upon call of the resolution proposed by Richard Harry Lee, wrote the Declaration of Independence. Although the youngest, his dominant personality and exceptional ability caused him to be chosen chairman of that committee, which included such stalwarts as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. The instrument practically as written by Jefferson was unanimously adopted to become for all time one of the immortal documents relating to human rights and self-government. President of the United States. - In the trying days during and following the Revolutionary War Thomas Jefferson was a member of the Continental Congress, Governor of Virginia, ambassador to France, succeeding Franklin, and recalled to become Secretary of State in President Washington's Cabinet, where he bitterly opposed the policy of Alexander Hamilton in his endeavor to extend the powers of government over the people. On a platform based upon his ideas and policies, he was elected the third President of the United States as a Democratic-Republican over his opponent, who as a Federalist espoused the principles of Hamilton. Louisiana Purchase. - During the first, years of his two terms as President, he completed the negotiations with France for the purchase of the vast domain, over 900,000 square miles, lying west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, known as "the Louisiana Territory." The purchase price of $15,000,000 was, at that time, considered exorbitant and created much adverse criticism in which Jefferson was denounced as an "imperialist," and as having forsaken his democratic principles. The reasons for this action on his part were that he saw the advantage of gaining control of the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans, and that by this purchase the United States would be left unhampered by foreign countries in developing her republican form of government. Achievements. - The outstanding events of his public life are to be found in (1) the writing of the Declaration of Independence; (2) enactment of the statute for religious liberty; (3) founding the University of Virginia; and (4) the purchase of the Louisiana Territory.